Waterloo Region Transit Developments (ION LRT, new terminal, GRT buses)

[Streety McCarface]

Bombardier has had its sh!t together for a while. Grandlinq had this equipment spec'd since 2014. The Region of Waterloo however delayed the signing of this second contract until the last possible second for God only knows what reason.


CN Waterloo Spur.

Wasn't possible or practical given GRT's plans for buses.

Speeds are only limited in the high traffic area that is the UW campus or on approach to stations.

Blame UW for this. They were being stubborn over what buses they would allow on Ring Road.


That one vehicle that (allegedly) had wheel flats is being used to debug the software integrations of the new specialized equipment and those sorts of issues were expected. That specialized equipment BTW is used to apply the emergency brakes if the operator:

• Doesn't acknowledge a change in signal state
• Doesn't acknowledge the transition from LOS to ATP
• Doesn't apply Full Service brakes in time to stop at a non-permissive signal.
• Attempts to drive through a non-permissive signal without a CCF clearance.

A stop at McCormick would have been too close to both R&T and Northfield and would have reduced average speed through the Waterloo Spur segment significantly. It would also have had significant impact to the Laurel Creek. The lack of heaters won't make much of an impact to ridership when peak service is for 8 minutes at the start and scaling down to 5 minute minimum in the future.

Bombardier has not had its sh!t together, they're still having streetcar delays with the TTC and all our vehicles still haven't been delivered, and likely won't be delivered by the end of December. Grandlinq and the ROW share some blame as well, but to imply bombardier actually has their sh!t together is ludicrous.

GRT's plan has a bunch of bus routes (19B, 73, 9) terminating or serving there when the LRT starts running. The very least they could have done was expanded the facilities at Conestoga mall as well.

I do blame UW, but the fact that this wasn't addressed earlier is a huge problem. It's also a little ridiculous that they're not considering rerouting buses down segram and Albert.

arcGIS is showing that the McCormick stop would have been 1 km from the Northfield stop, and 900 meters from the R & T park stop. Given that more people get on and off at McCormick than both other stops combined on the 200, I'd say it should have been a priority from the get go. To put things in perspective: UW and Waterloo Park stations are 600 meters apart, the uptown stations are between 500 and 600 m, the the Allen and GRH stations are 600 m apart. The average stop distance for the LRT is about 1 km, having a McCormick stop is perfectly fair, especially since trains can bypass Northfield and RT park if no one is on the platform there.

 

[smallspy]

I don’t have any data on how long it took TTC to put he B-D line in service, but it sure seems like commissioning takes longer and longer with every project. More complex technology, to be sure....

- Paul

6 weeks. About the same as every extension since then has taken.

Bombardier has not had its sh!t together, they're still having streetcar delays with the TTC and all our vehicles still haven't been delivered, and likely won't be delivered by the end of December. Grandlinq and the ROW share some blame as well, but to imply bombardier actually has their sh!t together is ludicrous.

While Bombardier has had it's fair share of shit flung at it - and rightfully so - I don't think that in this case it's completely warranted. They had problems earlier in the order, sure. But at this point they had completed cars sitting and waiting for equipment to be delivered from a third party - Grandlinq. What do you expect them to do, make the equipment themselves to a spec that they don't know anything about?

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

 

[crs1026]

If anyone cares, there is a LRV. In the rail yard at Kitchener, ready for delivery tonight. It will be delivered by the last GEXR train ever, No 584. CN takes over at midnight.
- Paul

 

[Streety McCarface]

If anyone cares, there is a LRV. In the rail yard at Kitchener, ready for delivery tonight. It will be delivered by the last GEXR train ever, No 584. CN takes over at midnight.
- Paul

Wasn't cancelled due to weather?

 

[bgb_ca]

It has not gone up. ION testing is still ongoing after midnight.

A video from a hour ago

 

[jordanmkasla2009]

Wasn't cancelled due to weather?

Cancelled due to marathon ION testing overnight.

 

[crs1026]

It says really good things when the operator takes the first snowfall of the year as an opportunity to kick the tires and get experience with poor weather conditions.

- Paul

 

[ShonTron]

If anyone cares, there is a LRV. In the rail yard at Kitchener, ready for delivery tonight. It will be delivered by the last GEXR train ever, No 584. CN takes over at midnight.
- Paul

GEXR still has its original, namesake subdivisions (Goderich Sub and Exeter Sub), though, and will continue to run west of Stratford.

 

[Transportfan]

I didn't expect ION vehicles to have gongs. I thought that was a Toronto thing due to its streetcar system being historic .

 

[steveintoronto]

I didn't expect ION vehicles to have gongs. I thought that was a Toronto thing due to its streetcar system being historic .

I know for a a fact that San Diego Trolleys use bells as well as electronic warning signals, albeit that might be FRA required due to running on long stretches of shared railroad track (SDT also own and run a freight operation at night), but I suspect a number of North Am trolley/tram/streetcar/lrts do same.

 

[Megaton327]

I didn't expect ION vehicles to have gongs. I thought that was a Toronto thing due to its streetcar system being historic .

It makes sense. The actual horn on the flexities is loud. And they're fairly quiet when they're gliding along. The operator needs to be able to alert pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers without making them jump.

 

[Kyle Campbell]

I know for a a fact that San Diego Trolleys use bells as well as electronic warning signals, albeit that might be FRA required due to running on long stretches of shared railroad track (SDT also own and run a freight operation at night), but I suspect a number of North Am trolley/tram/streetcar/lrts do same.

Pretty much any LRT system I've used other than Boston seems to use gongs, it seems to be the standard in the US (along with flashing front lights, which we don't seem to do in Canada)

 

[steveintoronto]

Pretty much any LRT system I've used other than Boston seems to use gongs, it seems to be the standard in the US (along with flashing front lights, which we don't seem to do in Canada)

This is interesting, as in Canada, we have at least two examples of LRTs having to meet federal regs, Ottawa's and K/W's.

In the US:

[...]
The well known shared track operation with temporal separation in San Diego, California, is now only the first of several similar systems: Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA; Moffett Field Drill Track), Utah Transit Authority (UTA) and Maryland Transportation Authority (MTA) also share track with freight rail operations—similarly protected by temporal separation. UTA also includes ones of the first rail-to-rail crossings where two former single track freight lines crossed and one became an LRT alignment. In 2003, Santa Clara, California, expanded its in-house railroad capability with a larger scale program on the Vasona LRT Line that is nearing completion on a right of way purchased by the VTA from a Class 1 Railroad. For the Vasona Line, the transit agency is responsible for maintenance of the freight railroad track including major rail bridge overpasses, maintenance of the several shared highway-rail grade crossings and freight-LRT operations at the interlocking point of connection. This followed the 1988 commitment by Sacramento, California, to undertake maintenance of shared railroad–light rail grade crossings on the lightly used freight railroad single track that parallels the Folsom (largely) double track LRT line as part of Sacramento’s purchase agreement with the railroad. Following this trend, San Francisco LRT maintenance forces are training to assume maintenance of their freight rail–light rail crossings and automatic interlockings. A common thread in these arrangements is that all of the above light rail transit systems are responsible for a portion of the freight track and signal system maintenance within the shared-use arrangements. Most of the transit agencies surveyed evaluated whether to contract out or use in-house maintenance forces. In every case the decision has been to train and use in-house LRT maintenance forces to achieve FRA qualifications and carry out FRA standard practices
[...]

http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/circulars/ec058/08_01_Ames.pdf

A lot of readers will find the article interesting. I just tripped across it looking for "bells" and LRT + Federal regulation.

I also tripped across this for Ottawa, albeit I knew already that any and all transit in Ottawa is federally regulated, albeit divested to the municipal agency to oversee, but this specifically itemizes the LRT, although I have to wonder who oversees the ION's shared jurisdiction when using heavy rail lines?

The City’s LRT system is considered in law to be a federal rail transportation undertaking; however, federal legislation and regulations have not been developed for application to municipal light rail systems. In addition, Transport Canada is not organized administratively to provide active regulatory oversight for these kinds of municipal transit systems. As such, Transport Canada has delegated this authority to the City. As set out in the delegation agreement (see Appendix B), the City has the authority to: · develop, implement and enforce a comprehensive regulatory framework for the safety and security of Ottawa Light Rail Systems · assume responsibility and accountability in respect of the development, implementation and enforcement of the regulations · establish procedures that require that compliance with the regulations be monitored and reported on by an independent internal auditor or other responsible City official In addition, as set out in the delegation agreement, prior to completion of construction, the City must develop, implement and enforce comprehensive regulatory frameworks for the safety and the security of the railway. “Regulations” refers to the bylaws, guidelines, policies, regulations, rules, standards, safety management systems and/or security management systems adopted by the City in relation to the LRT system.

https://documents.ottawa.ca/sites/default/files/lrtregfw_fnl_en.pdf

I haven't looked lately, but have tried many times in the past to find and access ION's legal basis, most specifically the signals and how provincial legal agreement/basis could also be used for the King Street Pilot in Toronto. (Assumed as an addendum to the Highway Traffic Act)

Any help on that most appreciated.

Addendum: Finding the right tags for successful searches is always hit and miss, and right now, it's miss on the above, but did find this:

November 28, 2003 – The Region of Waterloo is selected as one of eight municipalities across the country to receive up to $3 million in funding under Transport Canada’s Urban Transportation Showcase Program to implement an express bus project linking Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo along the Region’s central transit corridor.

https://rapidtransit.regionofwaterloo.ca/en/multimedialibrary/resources/2012_rt_tpadisplayboards.pdf

There must have been name-changes for the ION project...that's all I can find, let alone anything on regs...

 

[Bureaucromancer]

As far as the gongs go you should also bear in mind these ARE Toronto cars in everything but details (Grandlinq bought them through Metrolinx' as an add-on to the Transit City order.

 

[Kyle Campbell]

As far as the gongs go you should also bear in mind these ARE Toronto cars in everything but details (and at . Grandlinq bought them through Metrolinx' as an add-on to the Transit City order.

Yes, but it uses a mainline track in part, so they *have* to have bells ringing while entering a station just like any old passenger or freight train. Ion is sort of unique, since the Trillium Line is entirely on a regulated rail line. They probably don't have to gong when off the GEXR line, but it's probably simpler operationally to follow the same rules all the time.